For some time now Boothbay Railway Village has been using the Easy Model Railroad Inventory Program to record our fleet of rolling stock and locomotives. Only part if the inventory has been entered partually due to a very, old balky computer, and some other issues. Recently, one of our volunteers donated a recondtioned laptop so we can get things going again.
I have been looking for a site to download the program again without much luck. I know the program designer stopped supportng it some time ago, and another guy was hosting a downlaod site for it. My Google search turned up only a very flakey site that claimed to have the program, but it would not download - just some ads came up.
Does anyone know if there is an existing web host for Easy Model Railroad Inventory, or could recommend another model RR inventory database?
Our inventory includes over 1000 pieces of rolling stock with about 600 entered and over 100 locomotives. WIth this quantity, a spreadsheet program just is not practical to sort, search, extract data.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
My only inventory is the JMRI roster for locomotives.
That got me thinking about weather the program could be used for car inventory.
Maybe you could take a look at Operations Pro portion of JMRI and use the car inventory function there?
http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/manual/JMRI_OPS_UsersGuide/Ops_Cars_Menu.shtml
It is only part of a whole operations sequence but the price is right and it will probably be supported well into the future.
Good Luck, Ed
With some creative use of the scripts and display functions, you can fully automate a spreadsheet with customizable views, data entry forms, and lookups that display only certain objects in the table.
Modern spreadsheet software isn't just a chart of columns and rows. Many of the Office-like software packages also include tools that will allow you to use the spreadsheet as a simple database, with a functional UI that isn't just a large jumble of data in front of your eyes.
It takes time to make, but its doable in a night or two for a custom to you solution that gives you what you need if you cant find your software...
This space reserved for SpaceMouse's future presidential candidacy advertisements
Try here: link
george here is the latest ver
http://pdc.ca/rr/freebies/
I use Microsoft Excel.
.
There is no reason not to use a spreadsheet. The data will always be usable, and if you save a backup copy as a CSV file you can open it in almost any program.
As noted by a previous poster, there is almost nothing that Excel cannot do.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
mikeGTWgeorge here is the latest ver http://pdc.ca/rr/freebies/
I'm about one step away from being totally computer-illiterate, but with a little help from my daughter, created a customised inventory list with Excel. It's easy to find any item (all listed alphabetically by roadname and number), can contain as many columns and entries as you wish, and it's easy to update with new entries or to delete items, too. And, since my old PC has expired, it's good to know that it also works on my Mac.
Wayne
I would be reluctant to go with an old program, now out of production. Some new release of Windows may break it, and you will not be able to fix it. That leaves your entire, laboriously entered, database inaccessable.
I use Excel, and it will easily handle your rolling stock inventory. It handles mine, which is maybe a quarter of your size. I simply create in one workbook, a separate worksheet for each type of rolling stock, engines, box cars, passenger cars, and so on. This keeps each worksheet reasonably small. And Excel will be around and operative for ever. You won't have to fear total obsolecense like you do with an old out of production program.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
RR_MelNo mater which way you go make sure you have a backup of the program before installation so that if it gets corrupted you can reload and fix it.
For sure!! Wish I could have found the backup to our exhisting copy, even if it was a few revisions out of date
SeeYou190 As noted by a previous poster, there is almost nothing that Excel cannot do. -Kevin
... and if you don't have Microsoft Office/Excel, a legal clone, Open Office, is basically the same, widely used, and free!
Jim
V8.5 is the most recent copy of EMRI. That said, it is very flexible and can be configured easily. It can even print car cards. I love the fields for couplers/trucks and even purchase price.
You can import/export to your own database and backup.
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Looking at the sample screen shots it looks very much like Dave Husman's CardCard database which is what I use.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
hardcoalcase SeeYou190 As noted by a previous poster, there is almost nothing that Excel cannot do. -Kevin ... and if you don't have Microsoft Office/Excel, a legal clone, Open Office, is basically the same, widely used, and free! Jim
I use google sheets, despite having Excel, specifically because it is platform independent and portable. I like being able to reference my roster when I'm at a store or show.
I added a train show report to my program that lists manufacturer, railroad, and road number of every car and loco in a compact list (would be even better if I had a 2-sided printer). At the time there wasn't a report like this, now there's one provided.
The program itself lives on OneDrive so as long as I have a computer I can access the full program. I have all my track plans there as well so I can access them from anywhereI can get an internet connection.
I also endorse using Excel or another spreadsheet. Learn how to format the columns, set and use filters, sort, and size for printing or display. That should do most of what you need, with a minimum of time spent learning. You can find tutorials on the web, usually on YouTube, to learn these things.
Never mind the suggestions on having a real database back end or any custom code or formatting. Those are all nice things to do, but you don't need them to keep your inventory. For only a couple thousand records, Excel will do just fine.
Genesee Terminal, freelanced HO in Upstate NY ...hosting Loon Bay Transit Authority and CSX Intermodal. Interchange with CSX (CR)(NYC).
CP/D&H, N scale, somewhere on the Canadian Shield
I use RRTrains 2000. I find it quite easy to use and it allows you to view pictures of the equipment. You can also save it in Excel format for its backup.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR